A growing number of television content sources enable interactive television. When operational, interactive television provides useful e-commerce, advertising, and information capabilities to viewers. One mechanism for interactivity typically involves the insertion of information or data in hidden portions of a television video signal. This information can range from a simple web link, such as an Internet uniform resource locator (URL) address, to a fairly complete set of extensible markup language (XML) information that can form a complex web page accompanied by web links (e.g., to advertisers' web pages). Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) triggers or triggering techniques by Wink are examples of mechanisms for providing interactive information along with television signals.
This information (e.g., triggers and accompanying content and data, which will be referred to collectively herein as “trigger information”) is typically inserted or carried in a vertical blanking interval (VBI) portion of an analog television video signal. For digital television broadcasts, this trigger information may be inserted into a special data slice of an MPEG-2 bit stream or signal. Modern analog/digital set top boxes or other client terminals can decode these signals to obtain the trigger information, and with the appropriate enabling software, convert the trigger information into a rich interactive experience for the viewer.
Unfortunately, typical interactive television systems leave the interactive experience under the exclusive control of content providers. The cable service provider or multiple system operator (MSO) has limited opportunity to customize or enhance that experience for the viewer. In other words, because the content providers are typically the parties that provide and insert the trigger information into the television signals, the MSO's role is often reduced to simply relaying the television signals to viewers without any modification or customization.
In addition, due to the embedded nature of interactive trigger information, only the set top box has the capability to access and process the trigger information in order to provide an interactive experience for the viewer. This is inconvenient to viewers that wish to view and or otherwise have an interactive experience via use of devices other than the set top box and television. These ancillary devices can include a personal computer (PC), handheld display device, companion set top boxes, or other client terminals different from the set top box. Ancillary devices that are connected to the Internet, through a cable modem for instance, cannot process the trigger information unless they have the same hardware and software as set top boxes that can detect and process the trigger information. This limits the interactive experience of users of these “legacy” ancillary devices.
While it may be possible to provide ancillary devices with the hardware and software to process trigger information, such advanced devices are costly and require their own wired coaxial cable connection to the cable distribution plant. This makes the interactive experience of users of these ancillary devices less practical and less convenient, as well as still leaving the ultimate control of any interactive experience in the hands of content providers.
Accordingly, improvements are needed in techniques for providing interactive information to viewers.